Abstract
Falls and pain are major public health issues among older adults. Annually, more than one-third of community-dwelling older persons aged ≥65 years experiences a fall. Of the target population, 45–80% report some kind of pain-related conditions. Recent research has found that older adults living with pain are at a higher risk of falls. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a fall-preventive exercise-based program performed 2 times per week for 12 weeks can reduce pain-discomfort in the target population. This was a quasi-experimental study with a 1-group pretest-posttest design. This study included 106 participants who participated in a 12-week fall prevention intervention in a randomized, controlled trial. The intervention included exercises based on the Otago Exercise Programme (OEP). Pain-discomfort was measured according to 1 item from the EuroQol-5D. The results indicated and can be interpreted to that 12 weeks of exercises based on the OEP may both prevent and reduce pain-discomfort in individuals who remained adherent to the intervention. Nonadherent participants reported no difference or even higher degree of pain-discomfort. The results are of high objective interest in the field of pain management and fall prevention in the target population. Today, we know that long pain duration and high pain intensity are predictors for development of chronic pain and pain-related disability. The impact of the OEP on pain intensity and pain-related disability requires further evaluation in both short- and long-term studies.